JNET, Criminal Charges, and What to Do Next

The summer is over. All the fun in the sun in done. Now, back to work. But for professional licensees who had some criminal justice interactions over the summer that have been put off, ignored, or quietly resolved, these issues need attention again. This is because by now, or soon to your mailbox, you will receive notice from your professional licensing board of their knowledge of your criminal charges.

Fifteen months ago, when the Nursing Board changed its regulations to require 30-day reporting of criminal charges (not conviction), the Board needed to begin the process of making sure its licensees were timely reporting criminal charges. While the Nursing Board may have already been a subscriber to JNET, it stepped up surveillance of every licensee. What does this mean?

The Nursing Board, and every other Board, became a daily recipients of JNET computer searches results of its licensees’ criminal interactions. JNET is now an integral part of every licensing Board’s investigatory process. The Boards are subscribers to JNET to receive daily notice of any positive hit of licensee’s criminal charges through a computer algorithm search of its queried database. AND BELIEVE ME, THE BOARDS ARE GETTING NOTICES EVERY DAY. IN TURN, THIS MEANS THAT THE BOARDS ARE ASSIGNING THE NEW CASES TO THE PHMP, VRP, AND/OR PROSECUTORS, TO INVESTIGATE AND IF NECESSARY, FILE ORDERS TO SHOW CAUSE, PETITIONS FOR MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EVALUATIONS, OR FILE DISCIPLINARY CHARGES.

What is JNET – From the JNET WEBSITE it reads

JNET is the Pennsylvania Justice Network. The Pennsylvania Justice Network (JNET) is an integrated, secure justice portal providing an online environment for authorized users and systems to access public safety and criminal justice information. JNET is the Commonwealth’s primary public safety integration service provider. JNET is a result of a collaborative effort of municipal, county, state, bordering states and federal justice agencies to build a secure integrated justice system. While each agency maintains ownership and control of their data, JNET allows authorized criminal justice and public safety professionals to securely and safely access information from multiple providers through one interface.

The Pennsylvania Justice Network (JNET) is the Commonwealth’s primary public safety and criminal justice information broker. JNET’s integrated justice portal provides a common online environment for authorized users to access public safety and criminal justice information. This critical information comes from various contributing municipal, county, state, and federal agencies. One-time data entry has improved the effectiveness of participating agencies, and has significantly improved data accuracy throughout the Commonwealth’s criminal justice system. Information entered into a records management system at the onset of an investigation can now follow the offender throughout their criminal justice tract. As offenders pass through the gateway of justice all the way to post-sentencing supervision, offender information flows in concert with the offender’s progression.

JNET allows users to subscribe to real-time event messages for comparison against offender watch-lists. When an event message is published, it is compared against watch-list records and the subscriber is automatically notified via email. When a significant event such as an arrest, disposition, want, warrant, state parole violation, PennDOT change of address or death occurs, users are alerted to check secure JNET for detailed event information.

The licensing boards know of any criminal charge, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct , DUI, drug charges, and more withing 24-48 hours of fingerprinting and processing in ANY STATE IN THE COUNTRY. Reporting your criminal interaction timely and completely is important. Failing to report is a separate disciplinary event from the criminal offense.

Responding to “Letters of Concern”, VRP enrollment letter, understanding what VRP, PNAP, PHMP case workers can and will do once you begin talking with them is pivotal to saving your license. Read my web site and other blogs. Attorneys handling criminal cases do not understand this professional licensing scheme, the evaluation consequences, and the prosecution attorney’s role is to protect the public .

Call me to discuss the letter in your hand, the petition sitting on your desk, or ask the questions you have after speaking to a VRP case worker who just told you to have your boss call them so you can keep working!!!!